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毒 meaning in English

dú

poison; to poison

HSK 5nounverbadjective9 strokes

Meaning of 毒

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

dú
  1. poison
  2. to poison
  3. poisonous
  4. malicious
  5. cruel
  6. fierce
  7. narcotics

How to use 毒

毒 (dú) works as a noun for poison or drugs, a verb meaning to poison, and an adjective for something toxic or cruel. It appears in many everyday words like 病毒 (bìngdú, virus), 消毒 (xiāodú, to disinfect) and 毒品 (dúpǐn, narcotics). Example: 这种蘑菇有毒。(Zhè zhǒng mógu yǒu dú.) This kind of mushroom is poisonous.

Look at the bottom of 毒 (dú): it holds 母 (mǔ, mother) but with the middle strokes joined into one line. Picture a mother guarding her children from poison, with a warning sign stacked on top.

Common mistake: Learners often write the bottom as 母 (mǔ) with two separate dots. In 毒 the middle is one stroke that runs straight through. In 中毒 (zhòngdú, to be poisoned), 中 is read in the fourth tone zhòng, not the first tone zhōng.

毒 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

毒dú品pǐn是shì国guó际jì性xìng的de问wèn题tí。
The drug problem is international.
我wǒ知zhī道dào您nín接jiē下xià来lái会huì问wèn：“您nín毒dú杀shā了le多duō少shǎo人rén？”
And I know the next thing you're going to say is: "How many people have you poisoned?"
他tā是shì个gè吸xī毒dú男nán。
He's a meth addict.
他tā服fú毒dú自zì杀shā了le。
He killed himself by taking poison.
这zhè条tiáo鱼yú没méi有yǒu毒dú。
This fish is free from poison.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

毒 dú · poison · 9 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9

Related words

Words that share a character with 毒.

病毒bìngdúvirus
有毒yǒu dúpoisonous
中毒zhòngdúto be poisoned
消毒xiāodúto disinfect; to sterilize
杀毒shādúto disinfect; (computing) to destroy a computer virus
毒品dúpǐndrugs; narcotics
吸毒xīdúto take drugs
毒药dúyàopoison
毒贩dúfàndrug dealer; drug trafficker
贩毒fàndúto traffic narcotics; drugs trade
毒气dúqìpoison gas; toxic gas
缉毒jīdúto counter narcotics trafficking; drug enforcement

Questions about 毒

What does 毒 mean?

毒 (dú) means "poison; to poison" and is used as a noun, verb and adjective.

How do you write 毒?

毒 is made of 1 character: 毒 (9 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.

Is 毒 an HSK word?

Yes. 毒 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

Can 毒 describe weather or people, not just poison?

Yes. 太阳很毒 (tàiyáng hěn dú) means the sun is fierce and harsh. For people, 毒 or 狠毒 (hěndú) describes someone vicious or cruel.

What is the difference between 消毒 and 杀毒?

消毒 (xiāodú) is the usual word for disinfecting or sterilizing things like wounds, hands or tools. 杀毒 (shādú) is mostly used for removing computer viruses, as in 杀毒软件 (shādú ruǎnjiàn, antivirus software).

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